Where the Government of the United States of America Invoked Its Humanitarian Laws - Research Paper Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………3 Introduction……………………………………………………………..3 Literature Review………………………………………………………..4 Methodology…………………………………………………………….5 Significance of the evaluation……………………………………………7 Schedule of the review……………………………………………………8 Budget for the evaluation…………………………………………………9 Conclusion………………………………………………………………..10 References………………………………………………………………..11 Abstract This paper will seek to identify humanitarian parole as the policy for review identifies the background of the policy, justifying the importance of its review, ands it identifies the issues that emerge from the policy. This paper provides instances where the government of the United States of America invoked its humanitarian laws and granted humanitarian visas to victims of calamities. The methods of carrying out the review are discussed in this paper and the challenges of collecting data and preparing a final report on humanitarian policy. The significance of humanitarian policy review is given in this paper. The paper outlines the reason why a person should fund this review and its importance for policy makers. There is also a budget for the review and conclutory statements. Introduction In criminal justice, parole is the supervision that occurs when the government authorizes release of criminals to the community after serving a certain period of prison term (Eseinberg, 1999). Their release has certain conditions. In immigration law, parole refers to granting of visa to a person who does not meet the requirements to enter United States of America. The government gives the visa basing on humanitarian grounds (Purves, 1992). The policy for review is the humanitarian parole policy. This policy allows entry into the United States of America to a person who is ineligible to get US visa. The purpose behind humanitarian parole policy is to provide humanitarian services to an individual on a temporary basis and once the US government confirms the safety of the individual, they can leave the country at the expiry of their visas. The review of humanitarian parole policy is important because it is an extraordinary measure that brings an inadmissible alien into the United States of America for a period of time due to a compelling emergency condition (Wasem, 2010). For instance, On January 18th 2010, the Secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, allowed orphaned children from Haiti passage into United States of America on a temporary and individual basis in order for these vulnerable children to receive the attention and care they could not get in Haiti. This was part of the humanitarian programme and policies of the American government in aiding Haiti. The issues that emerge from this policy include laws governing the humanitarian parole policy, conditions of an alien for obtaining parole under this policy and personal information of the parolee. Additional issues that emerge from this policy are information of the person sponsoring the parolee, where to file for the humanitarian parole policy, length for adjudicating the parole application and its approval. Literature Review In Haiti, the government of United States of America advanced the humanitarian parole policy. For qualification, a person had to be either a citizen or a non citizen of the United States of America and a citizen of Cuba or Haiti. The department of homeland security, through the Supplemental National Assistance Program, provided guidelines on how Haitians must meet non-citizen eligibility requirement in order to benefit from the humanitarian parole policy. The guidelines were in accordance to Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Wasem, 2010). According to the act, a person is a Cuban/ Haitian if he or she is a national of Cuba or Haiti who meets the requirements of Section 501 (e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980. The Act stipulates a Cuban or Haitian as an individual whom the government of America grants parole as a Cuban or Haitian. Further, any other individual of Cuba whom the United States Government paroled and has not acquired any other status under the immigration and nationality act qualifies for parole. Additionally, an individual with an application for asylum pending with the department of immigration and naturalization service qualifies for humanitarian parole (Wasem, 2010). The department of homeland security granted humanitarian parole to individuals who satisfied the above criteria. During the Haitian humanitarian operation, the Haitian Government requested the United States Government to provide them with a list of orphans that they considered for adoption, under the humanitarian parole program for Haitian orphans. For instance, records show that on January 13th, 53 Haitian Orphans were brought into an orphanage in United States of America. The orphanage was under the administration of Jamie and Ali McMutrie. The Children were in good health, and they only suffered from mild dehydration. Majority of the 53 children were in the process of adoption by US citizens. This was one of the reason as to why majority of this children gained easy passage to the United States of America. Of the 53 Children, Canadian families adopted three and Spanish families adopted 4. Methodology In evaluating the humanitarian policy, I will need data. This data will show instances where the United States of America gave parole to individuals who had humanitarian crises. I will also need data that shows the number of people paroled the causes of their parole, the humanitarian crises that they faced and the length of their stay at the United States of America. The data will be collected by the use of questionnaires. By the help of volunteers, we shall question individuals who are benefiting from the policy and thereafter, carry out an analysis. Paper-pencil and web based questionnaires will be used to collect data. The advantage of using questionnaires is that people are more likely to be truthful in answering the questions, especially concerning their personal lives. Another method for collecting data is through interviews. Face to face interviews, telephone interviews and computer assisted personal interviewing method will be used. In an interview, the questions are structured and thus appropriate answers found. Other methods incorporated in the collection if data are surveys, desk study, observation, focus group discussion and case study analysis. Survey is a data collection method that gathers data about individuals by selecting a sample of the group being studied. Desk study is about collecting information about the topic being studied, in this case, humanitarian parole policy and drawing a conclusion on the topic. Observation involves recording the behavioral procedures of people being studied while focus group discussions and case study analysis offers in depth analysis of the situation. In our case, the humanitarian parole policy. Data collection will be a challenge and in order to carry out a face to face interview, I will need to locate the whereabouts of the parolees. Faced with the above challenges, I will collect data in the state of New York. Locating parolees in New York is easy since it is the preferred destiny of most parolees. While collecting data, there are various ethical issues to be put into consideration like concealing the identity of the parolees and revelation of their identity can only be done if the parolees allow it. Other ethical considerations to be observed are honesty to the parolees on the intended use of the evaluation and not using coercive measures to get information from the parolees. Significance of the Evaluation The evaluation of the humanitarian parole policy is significant because it will address issues such as the relevance of the policy in promoting the interests of the United States of America, the efficiency of the policy, its effectiveness, and the impact of the policy, its sustainability, the coherence and coverage of the policy. Policy makers need to know how relevant humanitarian parole policy is in promoting the interests of the American people. In humanitarian parole policy, the extent of its application by the United States government must be consistent with beneficiary’s requirement and the needs of the American people. The evaluation will thus measure the relevance of the policy in relation to the needs and values of the American people (Petersilia, 1998). On efficiency, the evaluation will measure the extent to which the policy has achieved its objectives. The evaluation will measure the impact of the policy on American people and its beneficiaries. The evaluation will measure the long term impacts and the short term impacts and analyze where changes have to be made in relation to the policy. The evaluation will also analyze whether the policy is sustainable in the long run and covers a wide percentage of people or it is discriminatory. Based on the above analysis, the evaluation is important and thus it requires funding from non-state actors. This will ensure the evaluation is done in a perfect and accurate way. Schedule of the Review This review will last between one to two months and the following are its stages with the expected time frame: Development, printing and distribution of questionnaires for data collection purposes alongside data collection will take five days. Developing the questions will last two days, for reasons that research will be need questions that focus on the review objectives. Distribution and filling of questionnaires will take two and one day respectively. This time is presumed sufficient to get the right answers from the respondents. Interview will be conducted within one week during which appointments with senior immigration officers will be sought. Because of stigma and social security issues, convincing parolees to come out and give interviews on their applications including the nature of the humanitarian ground in which they got the American visa may take a week. With regards to surveys, five days would be sufficient to design the survey and reach the target respondents. This is an important stage in data collection since it will identify the right parolees who will provide the relevant information for the survey. Through desk study analysis, the parole policy in question will be evaluated by searching for information in government and private libraries as well as the internet. This will last a week. Relating to focus groups, discussions will be done in different parts of New York. Since this will require securing venues and assembling the target group, a period of one week will be sufficient. Finally, analyzing different cases of humanitarian parole system and drawing a conclusion on the effectiveness of the policy will last three weeks. This time frame is justified because it will incorporate data from interviews, questionnaires, surveys, desk study analysis and focus group discussions. A report will thereafter be produced, outlining the effectiveness or lack of it in the humanitarian parole policy. Recommendations based on this evaluation will then be offered as a concluder. Item Time Schedule Data collection through questionnaires one week Data collection through interviews one week Data collection through surveys one week Desk study analysis one week Focus group discussion one week Report writing analysis one week Budget for the Evaluation My evaluation will be sponsored by the law department of my University and by various non -governmental organizations whose mandates are to promote humanitarian and relief operations, this will be in addition to my savings. The following is my budget: Cost elements Units Amount ($) Production of questionnaires 100 @ $ 2 200 Transportation costs 1 500 Library costs 1 50 Internet costs 1 200 Conference halls and gallery fees for focus groups discussion 1 500 Materials for report production 350 Meals for focus group participants 20@ $15 300 Totals 2100 Conclusion Humanitarian parole policy is an effective way of promoting the rights of vulnerable members of the society. For instance in Haiti, the US Government used this policy to allow the orphaned children of Haiti access in America and thus get medical attention and social security. These kids were adopted by some Canadian and American families. In the Haiti case, this policy was effective in addressing adverse humanitarian conditions. Other policy that needs to be reviewed is the criminal parole system. Prisoners are also supposed to be treated in a humane way and one of the ways to treat them such is to offer parole to reformed prisoners (Petersilia, 1998). By offering parole, it is not an act of weakness on the part of the government but an opportunity for the parolee to be integrated into the society. References Eisenberg, M. (1999). Overview of special needs parole policy. Austin, Tex.: Criminal Justice Policy Council. Petersilia, J. (1998). Community corrections: probation, parole, and intermediate sanctions. New York: Oxford University Press. Purves, G. (1992). Humanitarian immigration and Canadian immigration policy (Rev. 23 Nov. 1992. ed.). Ottawa: Library of Parliament, Research Branch. Wasem, R. E. (312010). U.S. Immigration Policy on Haitian Migrants. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center. Read More